No crystal balls, no wishes

At the end of each year media outlets use news space to predict what will happen in the following 12 months or run a list of wished-for headlines in the coming year.

In this space we don’t utilize crystal balls or predictions—they are nice parlor games—we prefer to look forward by relying on trends and the words of those who can affect the future. We will focus on what is happening rather than write about hoped for events.

While we don’t do predictions we are confident in our desire to hear words that can help all live better lives—that is the goal of most every man and woman.

We want to hear the words compromise, moderation, solve and everyone.

Compromise is not a dirty or treasonous word, though that is what many in Congress have suggested or acted on. Politics is the art of compromise—shifting one’s position slightly to achieve part of one’s goals. In recent years politics has meant stand firm in your position and don’t give in…ever.

Just as extremism is no virtue, moderation is no vice. Winners and winning ideas live in the middle, the space between the extremes of the ideological spectrum. Former conservative icon Ronald Reagan certainly understood the art of moderating some of his long-held beliefs to achieve a score in the win column.

Every problem that America, Oregon and Keizer face has been solved somewhere in the world. A look to Europe and Asia will show how countries on those continents have managed their traffic and transportation issues. Travelers returning from those places marvel at the infrastructure that get people from one place to another. Other nations have also addressed housing and density issues that can be an example.

Hippocrates said it best more than 2,000 years ago. In part, he wrote primum non nocere.Its translation is one of the most well known sayings on Earth:“first, do no harm.” It was part of the oath that those who dispensed medical service gave to the gods.

Though modern day doctors do not use the oath, its premise is an important guide. Everyone knows the Golden Rule and some may even live by it. Hippocrates rule, while originally devised for doctors, would be a good complement to the Golden Rule especially by those who have sway over others: governments, employers, legislators and business.

Doing no harm would mean passing laws that are friendly to our environment—the only one we have. It would mean not imposing regulations or doing away with regulations that relate to the well-being of people or their livelihoods. We should all endeavor to do no harm to the world on which we live or to harm those who are different than us.

When we compromise, moderate our positions we can find solutions that benefit everyone. That’s a heck of a plan, one to adopt and help others, all without the services of a crystal ball or made-up headlines.